“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done…Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”
President Donald Trump made this post on the morning that Israel struck Iran. Expressing the belief that the devastating attacks on Iran would weaken Iran’s hardliners and push them to capitulate to American terms and sign a nuclear deal, Trump said, “They should now come to the table to make a deal before it’s too late…You know, the [hardliners] I was dealing with are dead.”
The belief that the strikes will weaken the hardliners and improve the chances of forcing Iran to accept a deal that eliminates their peaceful, civilian nuclear program is wrong. …
Reformist president Khatami rejected terrorism; accepted a two-state solution, implicitly recognizing the State of Israel; aided the U.S. in its fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda; and played a crucial role in setting up Afghanistan’s post-Taliban government. In return, George W. Bush awarded Iran with a seat in the Axis of Evil. Khatami was stunned, and the reformists were discredited.
In 2013, Iranians returned a reformist to power. Rouhani bet everything on negotiating Iran’s civilian nuclear program with the United States. But Rouhani and the reformists were, once again, disgraced and discredited when Donald Trump, in his first term, broke America’s promise and pulled out of the JCPOA nuclear agreement.
The Iranian perception that the United States may have used diplomacy, and specifically the promise of a sixth round of talks, to cover for military strikes will make it even more difficult for an already distrustful Iran to trust the U.S. in any future negotiations. Contrary to the American bet that military strikes could weaken the Iranian hardliners and push forward the negotiations, they may make negotiations even more difficult, discredit Iranian reformers willing to negotiate, and strengthen the hardliners.
DJT is a NeoCon, isn’t he? He is playing by the NeoCon handbook, doing NeoCon treachery and getting us into NeoCon wars! This was after he was elected because he represented a pathway to peace. No wars, no new bombing and no territorial ambitions were what we were promised, weren’t we? Why should he have any support from anybody but the NeoCons. Perhaps when he chokes on the mid-terms, he might finally figure it out. But of course, the black sun wants everything dead, don’t they?